Event Horizon Telescope Reveals Magnetic Fields At Milky Way’s Central Black Hole

Just contrary to our perception, black holes are more like cosmic engines rather than a giant vacuum sucking engines which suck everything that gets too close because of their high gravitational force. These giant cosmic engines convert energy from an infalling matter into intense radiation of much higher magnitude. These converted radiations are so bright that they can even outshine thousands of sun and if spinning, they can blast strong jets across the galaxies which are thousand of light years ago.

Magnetic fields are thought to be the main reason behind these black holes. And for the first time, astronomers have detected such magnetic fields outside the black hole which is located at the center of the Milky way using Telescope names Event Horizon.

For the decades, scientists and astronomers are trying to prove on solid ground basis even though they had a knowledge that such magnetic fields do exist in space.

This accomplishment was achieved using the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). Event Horizon Telescope is basically a global network of radio telescopes that function combined as one giant telescope almost equivalent to the size of Earth. Since larger telescopes can provide greater detail, the EHT ultimately will resolve features as small as seeing a golf ball on the moon.

Also read: Indian Scientist: “New NASA Findings Tell That ‘True’ Black Holes DO NOT Exist”

It would have been difficult to achieve this feat using other telescopes for several reasons. First, a black hole is the most compact object in the universe. Secondly, due to high gravitational force, the orbit of such black hole are much smaller in circumference when compared with other galactic objects. Last but not the least, being situated in the center of a galaxy, they are located really far from the earth, as far as 25000 light years ago. But the advantageous side is that a black hole can wrap light and magnifies the event horizon which makes it appear larger on the sky.

To trace the structure of a magnetic field, astronomers need to know about polarization property of the light being emitted from the body. In the case of the Sun, when the sunlight falls over an object, it gets polarized, that means light waves vibrations happen only in the single dimension. In the case of a black hole, polarized light is emitted by electrons spiraling around magnetic field lines. As a result, this light directly traces the structure of the magnetic field.

The magnetic field observations around a black hole were somewhat much dynamic. The Wavelength of the light emitted was not constant, so as the frequency. Also, emission of the light pattern was not fixed. This suggests scientists and astronomers that outside space is much more dynamic than we think. Let’s hope for more astonishing facts Event Horizon telescope brings.

Did you find this finding amazing? Tell us in the comments below.

Source: Science

Also read: How We “See” a Black Hole, Even Though It’s Invisible
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